Man reconnects with Vietnam comrades

Tom Smith holds two photographs of himself with two friends he met while serving on the USS Herbert J. Thomas in Vietnam in 1967. The three, who went their separate ways after the service until reaching out to find each other decades later, now take an annual November hunting trip together out west.(Photo: Elise Manahan/Gazette)Buy Photo

CHILLICOTHE – When he left the service after his tour of duty in Vietnam, Tom Smith never expected to see two of his closest comrades in the military ever again.

A phone call 26 years later, in 1993, however, suddenly changed everything.

Smith went to Vietnam in 1966 and served on the USS Herbert S. Thomas, where he befriended Monty Spears and Mike Antonio while sharing living space on board. They returned home from Vietnam on Feb. 14, 1967, and eventually went their own ways with their own jobs and families.

Smith, who went to work for Mead, said he often thought about Spears and Antonio through the years. Then his friendship with Spears came rushing back to him when the phone rang in 1993.

“He said, ‘This is a voice from the past,’ ” Smith said. “I knew the voice.”

That ultimately led Smith to travel to Lewiston, Idaho, a year later to reconnect with his former service buddy, who had called a Chillicothe phone operator looking for White to track him down.

“It was a rush,” Smith said of hearing Spears’ voice on the line. “We were all very good friends (in 1967).”

Once that first contact was made, Smith became determined to find Antonio and bring the trio back together. It took some time, but sometime around 2002 or 2003 — he’s not exactly sure which of the two years it was — he found an email for their old friend. An inquiry was sent asking whether Antonio wanted a reunion with his former shipmates.

“He emailed back and said, ‘Sure do,’ ” Smith said.

In 2005, Smith traveled to Billings, Montana, to meet Antonio, starting an annual ritual that continues to this day.

Each November, the three come together for two weeks of hunting — Smith meets up with Antonio in Billings before traveling another nine hours to reconnect with Spears in Harpster, Idaho, where Spears owns a five-acre tract of land.

Smith, 70, said he enjoys seeing his two comrades and noted that they stay in touch throughout the year. Occasionally, they will reflect on the past, but mostly, they talk about their present lives.

“After a while, you start wondering about people you knew,” he said. “We were three kids that met each other and became friends. You always remember people you’re with all the time.